Injection mold machines can be used to form various molded articles/parts using an injection molding process. One example of a molded article that can be formed, for example, from Polyethylene Teraphalate (PET) material is a preform that is capable of being subsequently blown into a beverage container, such as a bottle or the like.
Injection molding of PET material involves heating the molding material (ex. PET pellets, etc.) to a homogeneous molten state and injecting, under pressure, the melted PET material into mold cavities of a closed mold to form a group of parts/articles such as a plurality of PET performs. At a suitable time, the mold can be opened allowing a tool carried by a moving apparatus such as a moving apparatus to move between the mold halves of the mold to an inbound position where the group of parts can be ejected from the mold and transferred to the tool in a manner known to those skilled in the art.
Once the parts are transferred to the tool, the tool can be moved again by the moving apparatus to an outbound position to allow the mold to be closed again and then commence making a new group of parts in the mold. When the tool is in an outbound position, a treatment device may subject the parts that are being held in the tool to a treatment (e.g. convective cooling, thermoforming, etc.). Furthermore, at a suitable time (e.g. once the parts have been thoroughly cooled to a dimensionally stable temperature), the treatment device may remove the parts from the tool for further processing (e.g. placement onto a conveyor for packaging, or into a blow molding machine).
Tools can be configured to carry and hold at one time more than one group of parts made at different times by the injection mold machine. In this regard, the tool can be cycled between inbound and outbound positions and may retrieve and hold more than one group of parts at any one time. During the cycling of the tool to retrieve successive group of parts, it may be necessary to not only adjust the position of the tool in a horizontal direction, but also adjust the position of the tool in a vertical direction relative to the mold, so that each group may be received by the tool.